well as of the upper
classes. Many Liberals who would otherwise oppose the Government
support it from horror of the red flag, and they strengthen
unwillingly the power of reaction. And therefore it would scarcely be
a paradox to say that the nearer the approach of the Socialistic
reign, the greater would be the danger to international peace. German
contemporary history illustrates once more a general law of history,
that the dread of a civil war is often a direct cause of a foreign
war, and that the ruling classes are driven to seek outside a
diversion from internal difficulties. Thus political unrest ushered in
the wars of the Revolution and the Empire; thus the internal
difficulties of Napoleon III. brought about the Franco-German War;
thus the internal upheaval of Russia in our days produced the
Russo-Japanese War.

It may be true that power is slipping away from the hands of the
Prussian Junkerthum and the bureaucracy, although Prussian reaction is
far stronger than most foreign critics realize. But whether it be
strong or weak, one thing is certain: a power which has been supreme
for two centuries will not surrender without a struggle. The Prussian
Junkers may be politically stupid, but they have not lost the fighting
spirit, and they will not give way to the 'mob.' Before Prussian
reaction capitulates, it will play its last card and seek salvation in
a European conflagration."

XVIII.--IS THE KAISER MAKING FOR PEACE OR FOR WAR?

"Is the tremendous power and popularity of the Kaiser exercised in the
direction of peace or in the direction of war?

To an Englishman the Kaiser's devotion to military pursuits, his
frequent brandishing of the sword, his aggressive policy of naval
expansion, seem to be in flagrant contradiction with his no less
persistent protests both of his sympathy for England and of his love
for peace. We are reminded that Napoleon III. also delighted to
express his love for peace--"_L'Empire c'est la paix_"--yet he brought
about the most disastrous war in French history. We are reminded that
Nicholas II. of Russia also started his reign as the peacemaker of
Europe, the initiator of the Conference of The Hague, yet he brought
about the most bloody war in Russian history. Are the Kaiser's pacific
protests as futile, are his sympathies as hollow, as those of a
Napoleon or a Nicholas?

Unfortunately, if the Kaiser's protests of peace are supported by many
of his utterances and sanctioned by th